


Flames Create Us

by savethebees



Series: Beautiful Thor and the Rest [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Background Relationships, F/F, Genderfluid Loki (Marvel), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Valkyrie is a part-time alcoholic, bruce is working on his phd, carol is a bartender, loki is a street magician because i said so, the revengers are roommates, thor is stripping his way through college, thor is the ultimate wingman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-06-27 23:33:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19800055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savethebees/pseuds/savethebees
Summary: “I see you watch Thor all the time. Do you know him?” The bartender gestured over to the enthusiastic man with her head as she began to prepare Val’s fourth drink. “I figure something’s got to keep you coming back like clockwork. It’s certainly not the other dancers, you never even spare them a glance half the time. So what is it? You have a crush on him?”The bartender’s teasing smirk was incredibly annoying, especially three drinks in, and Val gave her a look that she hoped expressed that. “Look, princess, I’m not here to make friends, okay? I’m here to drink and support Thor. You’re here to get me those drinks, not observe me like some weird social experiment. Can I have my drink now?”





	1. Just another Friday

Val walked into the kitchen that she shared with her three wack-ass roommates, half in her security guard uniform and with her hair down, still damp from the shower she just took. She really didn’t want to go to work that day. Her head hurt, but then again, when _didn’t_ it hurt? 

She got the almost-empty milk jug out from the fridge and took a swig directly from it before popping two asprin and chugging the rest of the carton.

“Oi, Loki,” she called out. “We’re out of milk.”

“I don’t see how that’s _my_ problem,” came Loki’s distained reply from the general direction of his and Thor’s shared bathroom. “You _know_ I’m lactose intolerant. You and Thor are the ones who keep drinking it so you should be the ones to replace it.”

“Yeah, but you’re the one who usually does the shopping so you may as well add it to your list. I can venmo you like $2 later.” Val turned toward the kitchen counter and gave a sigh of relief when she saw that Bruce had left half a carafe of coffee on the heater.

She got a mug down from one of the cabinets and began to fill it when Loki finally walked into the kitchen himself, ostentatious makeup covering his face. “Hate to disappoint, but I can’t go to the store today. The university is paying me to play the student union as part of their mental health services program, then I’ve got a birthday party at 5, and then I’m going to a drag show with some friends.”

Ah, Loki had magic performances that day. That explained the makeup.

Val took a sip of her coffee before reaching up to grab a bottle of whisky from on top of the fridge. “Aw, come on Lolo, you know I can’t go today either.”

Loki rolled his eyes. It was something he did so often that Val began to think it was one of his favorite hobbies. “One: don’t call me that,” He held up a finger for each number of the things he wanted to say. “Two: Can’t you just go after you get off work? Three: are you putting whisky in your coffee?” He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

Val stopped pouring the whisky, shrugged, took a swig directly from the bottle, and put the whisky back. “Yeah. What about it?”

“It’s 10:34am.”

She continued to look at him with an unimpressed stare, raising an eyebrow and taking a sip, challenging him. “And?”

“Don’t you have work?”

“Yeah, in like an hour, get off my dick.”

“Jesus Christ, Val. Whatever,” he waved a hand, dismissing the topic of conversation. “Why can’t you just go get milk after you get off work?”

Val took another, particularly large sip of her coffee that made her feel the burn of the whisky as it went down. “It’s Friday, remember? Thor’s dancing. I told him I would go tonight.”

“Right, well then I guess your milk will just have to wait.” Loki didn’t sound sorry at all, which made sense, given the circumstances, but she was still annoyed. Loki had the tendency to do that to her.

“Thor’s not going to be happy about it,” she said in one last attempt to get Loki to go to the store.

“Bold of you to assume I care what my brother thinks about being out of milk. Besides, it’s not _my_ fault it’s gone.”

Val threw the hand that wasn’t holding the mug up in the air. “Fine! I’ll just get some tomorrow.”

Loki, happy that the discussion was finally over, reached around Val to get his own coffee. Instead of hanging around the kitchen, however, he took it back to his room, thankfully.

Val leaned against the counter and scrolled through twitter on her phone as she continued to slowly drink her coffee. She’d ask Bruce to go to the store for her but he was currently working on his PhD, living on a grant and a prayer. Thor would be in his own classes until 5:15 and then would have to come straight home to get ready for work. So she was just shit out of luck on her second favorite breakfast drink.

The coffee whisky had made her feel pleasantly warm by the time she had downed the whole mug. She wished she could have had another one, and if she hadn’t needed to finish getting ready for work, she would have.

She shared a bathroom with Bruce which meant there was almost next to nothing as far as products went, which was the exact polar opposite of the bathroom on the other side of the house which had the misfortune of being shared by the two most dramatic beauty queens Val had ever seen.

After putting her hair up in a tight, neat bun and ignoring the general haggardness of her face, she walked back into her room and took her uniform shirt off of the hanger in her closet. It was one of the only things she ever took enough care to hang up. Everything else was either on the floor or still in the basket from when she did laundry last.

She put on the shirt over her black tank top with practiced ease, tucked it in, smoothed it down and checked how she was doing on time. With a small, pleased smile, she realized she’d have plenty of time to make it to the bus stop. She even had enough time for another coffee whisky if she wanted.

The thought was forcefully cut off before it could be fully formed. Instead, Val grabbed her backpack, picked up a pair of jeans from the floor, sniffed them to make sure they were still clean, shrugged, and stuffed them in the back pocket of the bag along with a pair of converse for after work.

“Later, you piece of shit. And good luck with the shows today,” she called out to Loki as she opened their front door.

“Won’t need it. Bye, asshole.”

Val snorted as she locked the door behind her. She and Loki always had a strange I-hate-you-but-unfortunately-I’m-fond-of-you relationship. If anything, at least it was fun.

-

Val yawned as she stood in the corner of the exhibit hall of their city’s history museum she was assigned to watch over. It was pretty easy. All she had to do was stand there and make sure kids didn’t climb on the Viking ship replica in the middle of the exhibit. It was boring but it paid the bills.

Norse mythology was always so odd to Val. Their god of trickery transformed into a horse, got fucked by another horse, and gave birth to an eight-legged horse. She couldn’t believe there was a time when people actually believed that stuff. There was a whole wall dedicated to the mythology to Val’s right and the part about the Valkyries was right next to her post. She liked to reread the blurb on them whenever the crowd was really thin. They were really the only part that interested her about Norse mythology anyway.

On that day, however, she was not so lucky enough to be able to read. Some local middle school was there on a field trip and the exhibit hall was echoing with shouts and laughs. Val was on her guard. Elementary school kids were usually too heavily chaperoned to do anything she would need to stop. High school kids were usually too bored or knew better. Middle school kids, however, were just the right amount of ballsy, and if Val hadn’t been paid to make sure they didn’t climb over the railing that separated the statue of Hela from the rest of the exhibit, she would have applauded them.

Thankfully, the kids all left with minimal reprimanding and the rest of the day passed without a hitch.

When the museum finally closed at 8 and Val made sure everyone made it out, she gratefully clocked out and changed into the jeans and converse she brought, opting just to wear the black tank top that had been under her uniform as a top. Because she didn’t want to have to iron the clothes later, she neatly folded them before shoving them into her backpack. She would probably still need to iron them, but that was a problem for another time.

The only problem she wanted to worry about right now was how long the line at the bar would be at Galaxy’s Edge.

Ever since Thor started stripping at the space-themed bar, Val made it her Friday routine to go and support him. And to drink. But mostly support him… with a $6 long island iced tea in hand.

She caught the bus just in time and shot Thor a quick text telling him she was on her way. He probably wouldn’t see it until he got a break, but at least he would know to look for her.

-

The club music was nearly deafening, but at this point, Val was used to it. She was on her third drink, and when the bartender handed it to her, she turned around to watch as Thor danced his little heart out in little more than a speedo for quite a few people who kept trying to put dollars in his waistband. She always laughed at the eagerness and the unadulterated thirst exhibited by some of the people who attended the bar, but she also always cheered the loudest at the end of every song. Several times, Thor caught her eye and winked, which just made her laugh even harder. She loved her Fridays.

“Hey, bartender, another vodka cranberry,” she said as she turned back around, having drained the drink that had been given to her just 5 minutes ago.

The bartender looked her over for a few seconds with a curious look before speaking. “You’re here every Friday, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, so are you. What a coincidence,” Val said flatly. She recognized the bartender, sure. She was tall and blonde and when Val was paying attention, she noted that she was actually quite cute. But Val usually didn’t pay attention, nor did she care. What did this girl even want, anyway? Val just wanted her damn drink.

“I see you watch Thor all the time. Do you know him?” The bartender gestured over to the enthusiastic man with her head as she began to prepare Val’s fourth drink. “I figure something’s got to keep you coming back like clockwork. It’s certainly not the other dancers, you never even spare them a glance half the time. So what is it? You have a crush on him?”

The bartender’s teasing smirk was incredibly annoying, especially three drinks in, and Val gave her a look that she hoped expressed that. “Look, princess, I’m not here to make friends, okay? I’m here to drink and support Thor. _You’re_ here to get me those drinks, not observe me like some weird social experiment. Can I have my drink now?” She saw the completed drink just sitting by the bartender’s hand and flicked her eyes between the drink and the bartender herself to get her point across.

Much to Val’s dismay, the bartender didn’t look put off by Val’s rudeness at all. She just kept smiling as if it were amusing to her. “I’ll make you a deal. I can either hand this to you right now and we both just do what we’ve been doing, _or-_ “ She held up a finger when she saw Val begin to open her mouth to demand for that option. “I’ll pay for this one and you can tell me your name.”

Val’s jaw dropped slightly. “Are you kidding me?”

“Hey, you don’t have to give it. Just thought I’d offer.”

“Why the fuck do you want to know my name?” What did it matter? This was the most social Val had ever been at Galaxy’s Edge. What made this girl want to even consider getting to know her.

“Well, you’re here all the time and you’re always alone, so I figured maybe you could have someone to talk to at least. Here, I’ll go first: my name is Carol.”

The cocky grin on Carol’s face irritated Val, and she really would have just taken the drink and moved on, but Val would have been a fool to turn down a free drink. Especially for something as little as a name that didn’t even have to be real. Carol would never know.

“Fine. My name is Christine. Now pay up.” Val placed her hand on the bar, palm up, waiting for her drink.

Carol slid the drink across the counter to her and started on another drink for another patron. “Nice to meet you, Christine. So, you never told me how you know Thor.”

Val picked up the glass and downed half of it in one go. “And I also never told you that I wanted to keep talking to you.” Why couldn’t Carol just leave her alone to drink?

Another skillfully crafted drink was passed between Carol and a patron’s hand. It might have been the alcohol, but Val suddenly remembered that she often associated the best drinks with Carol. She was fast and made them the perfect strength every time like magic. Of course, she didn’t know her name at the time. She just referred to her as ‘the blonde one at Galaxy’s Edge.’

“Yet here you are, still talking to me. So, you and Thor. Are you a thing?” Carol looked at Val like she had won. Which, she had, but Val didn’t want to admit that.

Val took another long drink in order to debate whether or not she wanted to lie again. She did. “Yeah. Love of my life. Gotta support him and all that.”

It wasn’t Val’s best lie. Then again, she was four drinks in. Carol didn’t look like she was buying it either, unfortunately. “Well that’s great, Thor’s great. You don’t really seem like his type though, _Christine._ ”

“Hey!” Val said indignantly. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

Carol didn’t say anything. She just smiled and looked up at something, raising her eyebrows and tilting her head to gesture at whatever she was looking at.

Val had never been more confused. Carol was a walking enigma as far as she was concerned. She wanted to ask what the hell was going on but she barely got “Wha-“ out of her mouth before a familiar figure plopped himself down next to her. _Oh no._ Thor was on his break.

“Val! So good to see you and Carol are becoming friends! Carol, I’m glad you finally got to meet my roommate that I have been telling you about!”

Val put her head in her hand and groaned. Stupid, dumb, loveable Thor. At least he bothered to put on actual clothes before coming out to visit her this time. But now her entire ruse was up.

“Oh so _this_ is Val?” Carol was grinning like she knew the whole time, which she probably did, much to Val’s dismay.

“I’m going to need another drink,” Val said as she dragged her hand down her face.

Carol had the drink placed in front of her almost immediately, as if she had been expecting it. But just as Val reached up to take it, Thor snatched it, almost downing the whole thing.

“Hey!”

“Put it on my tab, Carol.” Thor drank the rest of it and slid the empty glass back to the bartender.

“Thor, what the fuck? That was my drink.” Val knew why he did it. He was always trying to get her to stop drinking so much, but she was still annoyed as hell.

“Now that you two are becoming friends-“

“We’re not friends.”

“You should hang out with us, sometime!”

“Thor, I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Game nights are Sundays. You should join us!”

Carol laughed at the juxtaposition of Thor’s enthusiasm and Val’s mortification. “You know what, I think I’d love to come.”

“Great!” Thor beamed at her as Val smacked her head on the bar. “I’ll text you our address. Until then, you two keep chatting it up. Maybe exchange numbers, maybe arrange a date-“

“THOR!” Val snapped up and glared at him. He was always so presumptuous and blunt and always trying to set Val up with anyone and everyone he thought was nice.

Thor just continued to smile and patted Val on the shoulder. “Anyway, I have to go now. You two have fun. But not too much fun, this is a public bar.”

“THOR.” That time, both Carol and Val shouted at him, but he just walked off with a laugh, waving as he did.

“I can’t believe that man is my best friend.” Val finished the last bit of her drink but didn’t order another, Thor having got his point across.

Feeling incredibly awkward, Val closed her tab. Carol and Val didn’t really say anything else other than what was needed to pay for the alcohol. Val usually stayed until Thor was done and then would ride with him back to the house, but she would rather die than have to face Carol after all of that.

She signed one of the two receipts handed to her and handed it back, all without making eye contact. She was about to pocket the other one when she saw something scribbled at the bottom. Her eyes widened when she realized what it was. A phone number.

She finally looked up to see Carol giving her a shy smile. “One of us had to follow through with Thor’s suggestion. Who knows what he would have done if we hadn’t. Besides, if you’re best friends with Thor, you're probably a sweet person. Behind all that rudeness.”

_I’m drunk. I must be drunk,_ Val thought as her face began to feel hot. “Um… thanks.” She took the receipt and quickly left.

-

On the bus home, Val couldn’t help but occasionally run her hand over her pocket, feeling the crumpled receipt inside.

After doing that several times, she finally took it out, smoothed it enough to be able to read the numbers and put them in her phone, saving it under the name ‘Princess.’

She couldn’t help but smile.


	2. Game Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh, and by the way,” Loki said, casually, as if careful not to make a scene. “Jeff is coming to game night.”
> 
> Everyone in the room froze, some with tacos half-way to their mouths. 
> 
> Val put her food back onto the table, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. “That’s it, I’m texting Carol and telling her not to come.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to my girlfriend who was my Weed Expert and put up with all of my dumb questions.
> 
> Also, all of Jeff's pictionary skills are based off of actual things my sister has tried to draw during our family's games.

“I still can’t believe you actually invited her.” Val had been on this ever since the previous night.

Thor seemed undeterred. “Carol is lovely and we will all have fun. I don’t see what the problem is.”

“Wait, you invited who to what?” Bruce, finally looking up from his laptop, glanced over his glasses at the two of them. He was sitting at the table they kept in the back of their kitchen that functioned as their dining room.

“Thor invited a stranger to game night,” Val said with an annoyed quirk to her lips.

“She is not a stranger, she is a friend! And she is lots of fun, she’ll fit in great!”

Bruce didn’t look so sure. “I’m all about meeting new people and all that, but Thor, I don’t think you thought this through very well.”

 _Oh thank god,_ Val thought. If anyone could talk Thor out of something, it was Bruce. He wasn’t exactly _aware_ that he had this power, but everyone else knew. How could they not? Thor followed Bruce around like a puppy.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that, of all the nights in this house that we have, game night was the worst one to pick to introduce a new person to our weird group.”

“Nonsense! Game night is great fun!”

“Okay,” Bruce sighed and took off his glasses, folding them and placing them on the table. “I’m going to give you two very good reasons. The first being that competition brings out the worst in all of us. Remember when I broke that chair because Loki cheated at Sorry?”

“I still don’t know how he did that,” Thor muttered, looking thoughtful as he began to consider Bruce’s point.

“The second is that… well, speaking of Loki, for someone who doesn’t know him, he can be a bit-“

As if on cue, the front door opened and in walked Loki carrying a large plastic bag in one hand and a coffee in the other. After kicking off his heels, he joined the other three in the kitchen and set the bag on the table, revealing its contents to be a party box from a local taco joint.

“I bought dinner, no need to pay me back.” His tone was flat but in the way that only made it sound like he wanted gratitude.

Val knew this game. Loki was _never_ selfless. He wanted something that required their approval and knew all three of his roommates were suckers for free food. She didn’t want to prompt him but she also didn’t want to stand around, waiting for whatever it was that Loki wanted to ask them.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait long. Unfortunately, she understood why he had gotten them food first.

“Oh, and by the way,” he said, casually, as if careful not to make a scene. “Jeff is coming to game night.”

Everyone in the room froze, some with tacos half-way to their mouths.

Val put her food back onto the table, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. “That’s it, I’m texting Carol and telling her not to come.”

“Well now, wait a moment,” Thor said in an attempt to stop her. Then he turned to his sibling and addressed him. “Why did you invite Jeff when you knew we were going to be having a guest?”

“Look, I didn’t invite him, he invited himself.” Loki crossed his arms as he tried to defend himself. “And you try saying ‘no’ to the man who just bought you a $50 meal. Besides, if it makes any of you feel any better, he’s bringing weed.”

That made everyone reconsider, Jeff always brought the good stuff.

“Wait, wait, hang on,” Bruce said as he saw the rest of the room do their considerations. “As good as free weed sounds, Carol is going to be here and we don’t even know if she smokes, and on top of that, Jeff is going to be here. Need I say more?”

Val reached into her pocket for her phone. “Yeah, I’m definitely telling Carol not to come.”

“You all are being fucking ridiculous,” Loki huffed while rolling his eyes. “What’s the worst that could happen?” When he realized everyone was actually taking a moment to think about it, he held up a hand with a nervous look. “Okay, maybe it could go really bad, but you don’t know that. Besides, with Jeff, that makes it 6 players. Even teams.”

“This,” Val made a vague gesture with her hands, trying to indicate that she was talking about the whole situation. “This right here? This is biphobia is what it is. Am I uninviting her or not?”

Bruce just shrugged and turned back to his laptop, wanting no say in the matter.

“I think we should let her come because it would be rude to uninvite her on such short notice.” Thor was the first to speak up. “Especially since I was the one who invited her in the first place.”

“There, that’s settled. Not even worth the fuss,” Loki said as he left the room, giving a mock salute with two fingers.

Val watched him go, making sure she heard the sound of his door closing before turning to the other two. “I can’t believe he let Jeff invite himself. You know, if this goes horribly, I’m blaming you.” She shoved a finger in Thor’s direction.

He sputtered and put a hand to his heart like she had wounded him. “Me? Why me?”

“Because he’s your sibling and you thought game night being Carol’s introduction to us was a good idea. Loki is definitely going to cheat, Jeff is definitely going to be weird, Bruce is definitely going to get really mad, I am definitely going to get cross-faded as hell, and you are definitely going to be responsible.”

“Look,” he held up his hands in a placating manner. “If things get weird, I’ll just take her home. I promise. No big deal. Stop worrying so much, Val. What’s got you so wound up. Are you _nervous_ or something?” Thor waggled his eyebrows in a way that made Val very much want to punch him.

She narrowed her eyes at him, but even her menacing look couldn’t hide the fact that she was, in fact, nervous. “You better watch it, hotshot.”

Thor just smiled and patted her on the shoulder. He hadn’t been afraid of Val in years. “I’ve got a paper I have to go work on, but I’m going to take several of these with me,” he said as he reached back into the box on the table and pulled out as many tacos as could fit in his large hand.

“Don’t make yourself sick,” Bruce called out after him without looking up from his work.

“I won’t!”

Val also took her leave, wanting some solitude in her room after all of that. But before she could leave, Bruce stopped her with a calm, “Hey.”

Turning to see what he wanted, she saw he was giving her a reassuring smile, his eyes magnified by his glasses to give him an almost comical appearance.

“Really, don’t worry about it. We’ll be on our best behavior, I’m sure.”

“That’s what I’m worried about.”

-

**Princess [7:13pm]: If I were to hypothetically bring something for tomorrow, would you guys hypothetically want snacks or booze more?**

**[7:14pm]: Booze**

**Princess [7:16pm]: Booze it is**

**Princess [7:20pm]: You know, Thor texted me your guys’ address but didn’t actually tell me when to come**

**[7:22pm]: If you know what’s good for you, never**

**Princess [7:29pm]: If you don’t want me to come you can just say it. I’m a big girl, I can handle it**

**[7:29pm]: No!**

**[7:29pm]: It’s not that!**

**[7:30pm]: Well it’s kinda that**

**[7:30pm]: But not for the reason you think**

**Princess [7:31pm]: ??**

**Princess [7:36pm]: You’ve been typing for a while. I think I’m afraid lol**

**[7:37pm]: I’m trying to figure out how best to explain that my roommate’s sugar daddy is coming and somehow explain how… odd he is**

**Princess [7:37pm]: I’m used to weird dw**

**[7:38pm]: Not this kind of weird**

**Princess [8:16pm]: Sorry, my dumbass cat got syrup all over herself and I had to give her a bath**

**Princess [8:17pm]: Anyway, I’m sure I can handle you guys. I’ve handled some weird shit**

**[8:17pm]: How did your cat get into syrup?**

**Princess [8:18pm]: I made pancakes for dinner and forgot to put my plate in the sink for TWO SECONDS**

**[8:19pm]: Lmao**

**Princess [8:19pm]: Fucking bastard of a cat. She’s lucky I love her**

**Princess [8:20pm]: [1 attached image]**

**Princess [8:20pm]: The criminal**

The picture Carol sent was one of an orange cat who didn’t seem to be feeling guilty in the slightest. She was caught in the middle of grooming herself, paying no mind to the photographer.

After a few more messages were exchanged, Val found out the cat’s name was Goose and used to belong to Carol’s aunt before becoming Carol’s cat.

Then Carol sent another picture of Goose, but this one also had her in it, attempting to give a kiss to the very unwilling cat. Val was really glad she was alone in her room because the picture was so cute that she felt her face heating up as well as a smile beginning to form.

It took her 3 hours until she remembered to tell Carol to arrive at their place at 6 for the next day. She had been quite thoroughly distracted.

Goddamn Carol. Why did she have to be so cute? Why did Val have to find her so cute? She wasn’t supposed to find people cute. She wasn’t that kind of person. She found people hot, sure. Sexy, even. But not cute. What the fuck was wrong with her?

She blamed Thor.

-

Val looked in the mirror at the fourth outfit she had tried that evening. She was trying to look good but not like she was trying too hard. She wanted to impress Carol but not in a way that suggested anything.

She scoffed at herself and determined it was good enough because she really didn’t want to put on another one. She felt like she was the protagonist of a teen drama, except she was an adult and her problems didn’t revolve around a boy or being angry at her parents.

No, she was just harboring a potential crush on a girl she met once who was going to be here any minute.

Was it too late to back out?

The sound of the front door opening and Thor’s loud voice proclaiming, “I have brought food and friends!” told her that it was.

Not wanting to be _too_ rude, she decided to leave her room and go into the common space where she knew they would be right now. Bruce, apparently, had the same idea and Val had to freeze mid-step in order to avoid running into him as he left his room.

“Oh, sorry about that,” he said with an apologetic smile.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, I guess there are plenty of other things to worry about.” He lowered his voice so the other people in the house couldn’t hear him. “The combination of my research project and making sure I don’t make your friend hate me has sent my anxiety through the roof.”

“You and me both, big guy.” She let a long sigh. “Not the research part, of course, but if she ends up hating me, I can never go back to Galaxy’s Edge again. She would spit in my drink or something.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” he said with a nod that was aimed more at himself than Val. “If Jeff follows through, I’ll just smoke a lot and mellow out. I don’t know what’s going to save you, though.”

“Hey!” She playfully shoved him, though it was maybe a bit harder than it should have been. “Whatever, let’s just get this over with.”

When they walked into the living room that was attached to their kitchen, they were met with a beaming Thor. “My friends! I brought pizza and ran into Carol on my way inside.”

“We know, Thor, we heard you the first time,” Val said, grabbing the bottle of whisky off of the coffee table that Carol had just set down and opening it. Whisky had always been her favorite and she wondered if Carol knew that. It was then that she really got a good look at other woman. She was… well, Val wouldn’t allow herself to go as far as to say she looked stunning, but the lesbian vibes she was putting off with her tanktop, torn jeans, and flannel wrapped around her waist were almost overwhelming. But Val certainly was _not_ complaining.

“Isn’t it a bit early to start drinking? Loki has not arrived yet.” Thor gave her a disappointed stare.

“Not when you have my tolerance, it’s not.” She managed to get the bottle open and take a swig.

“Anyway,” Thor continued. “This is Bruce, one of our roommates. He’s currently working on getting his PhD in nuclear physics.”

Bruce stepped forward to shake Carol’s hand. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Carol gave a friendly smile but the room was filled with the awkward energy that usually comes with introductions and the uncertainty of what to say after said introductions.

Val took another swig.

Unfortunately for her, Carol figured out how to break the uncertainty, though not the awkward energy. “Hey, Val. It’s nice to see you again. I like that shirt.”

“Thanks, I stole it off a drunk woman passed out in an alley.” Sarcasm was Val’s natural defense tactic and she didn’t quite know how to turn it off.

“Val,” Thor scolded.

Val held up her hands. “Alright, sorry, sorry. I got it on sale at a Target but that’s not nearly as exciting, now is it?”

The sense of victory Val felt when Carol snickered was well worth it, and with it came the dismissal of the awkward energy.

“Well either way, it’s a good shirt.” Carol sat down on one of the many mismatched pieces of furniture the housemates managed to accumulate and stuff into their living room. “So what game are we playing tonight?”

“Pictionary!” Thor said with an excited smile. “So I hope you can draw.”

“I think it will be better if she can’t,” Bruce chimed in, also sitting down on a couch.

“Only one way to find out,” Val said quickly before Carol could confirm or deny any skill in drawing. “Too bad we have to wait for Loki. You know-“ She sat down on the armchair she usually claimed as ‘her spot’ and took another drink before pointing at Thor. “We should have told him we were starting at 5 instead of 6 tonight. Then he would have actually been on time.”

Thor sighed and joined the other three in sitting down wherever there was room. “Surely he cannot be that much longer.”

Apparently, yes he could. 24 minutes longer, in fact.

Finally, when Val was already well on her way to being buzzed, they heard the front door open. “Loki, you punk ass bitch, that better be you,” she called out.

Instead of answering, Loki strutted fully into the living room, barely even acknowledging them, took a slice of pizza and said, “What’s up, sluts. Today’s a she/her day.”

The three other roommates, without missing a beat, simultaneously said, “noted,” with the exact same tone and inflection, a sign of being used to this.

“So where’s J-“ Bruce started to ask before being interrupted by the man he was inquiring about.

“Now isn’t this a nice little- uh- gathering here. Anyway, let’s get this party started, eh?” Jeff somehow wormed his way to the front of the room without anyone noticing and stretched his arms out as he finished speaking as if to indicate that he was finally giving them permission to start game night.

Val wanted to roll her eyes at how ostentatious the man looked with his golden leather pants and blue lipstick, but, miraculously, she didn’t. “Did you bring the weed?”

“Oh!” Jeff looked around the room as if trying to remember where he put it. “Um, Loki, dear, I think I put it in your bag.”

Loki groaned but walked back toward where she had set her bag down to pull out a Ziploc bag containing two joints.

“Yes! See, there it is! I did bring it,” Jeff said, like it was his own triumph that Loki retrieved the bag for him.

Val leaned over close to where Carol was sitting. “Welcome to the shit show. Buckle up, princess, because it’s all downhill from here.”

-

“It’s a car?”

“A police car?”

“Wait what the fuck is _that_?”

Thor and Loki were currently trying to guess what Jeff was attempting to draw, but the weed certainly didn’t help. He had added something to the top of the weird lump that almost looked like an antenna of some sort. This was the third drawing Jeff had tried to make of the evening, each one worse than the last.

Carol covered her mouth with the hand that wasn’t holding the joint they were passing around the room as she started to laugh to the point of wheezing over Jeff’s terrible, terrible drawing.

“I think I know what it is.” Val narrowed her eyes at the drawing.

“Wait your turn,” Loki sneered. “What else could it possibly be if it’s not a police car? A firetruck?” She was currently taking up almost the entire couch, lounging on her side and glaring at the whiteboard they were using. At the beginning of the game, she had gotten so high so quick that it was almost funny.

“T-Time’s up,” Carol managed to say through her giggles that were definitely NOT cute, at least according to Val’s obstinate denial.

Jeff turned to face his teammates after setting down the marker. “Come on, guys. It’s- it’s obvious.”

“Wait, we get one guess to rebuttal.” Val leaned forward in her chair and, miraculously, did not fall out of it despite how the world seemed to swirl around her. “Is it… an RC car?”

Jeff threw his hands in the air. “Are you guys blind? It’s a toolbox.”

“WHAT?”

Everyone burst into laughter then, Carol so much so that she fell off the couch and had to catch herself on the coffee table.

Val managed to calm down enough to take the joint away from her so she wouldn’t accidentally drop it. She only took one hit before passing it off to Jeff, though. She was nursing her bottle of whisky and didn’t want to get too crossed. The last time that happened…. Well, she didn’t want to think about that.

“Jeff, let me have it,” Loki whined, reaching for Jeff’s hand like a child.

“No, it’s almost cashed and I want it right now.”

“Then hand me the other one?”

“You know,” Thor said through a teasing smile. “I can’t believe Jeff rolls all of your joints for you. So spoiled.”

“Shut up,” she said, but she was a bit too high to put any bite into it.

Val set down her bottle and unsteadily stood up as Jeff lit the second joint for Loki. “Alright. My turn. Carol, be a dear and roll the dice for me?”

“Sure thing.” Carol flashed her a smile and rolled the dice. “Your category is ‘object’.”

“Excellent.” They had long abandoned actually following the rules and playing with the board they had set up in favor of just drawing things and keeping a running tally of correct guesses. Val picked up the top card from the deck and read what she needed to draw in the object category and got to work.

Carol was able to guess it in just 10 seconds.

“Ha!” Val turned victoriously to the other team. “And that’s how it’s done.”

“Well, that’s, uh, that’s not fair,” Jeff tried to defend himself. “You got a really easy word.”

“Easier than toolbox?”

“She’s got you there,” Bruce mumbled from where he was almost being eaten by the couch with how much he had burrowed into it.

“Are you still good there, big guy?” Val asked him as she took her seat again and picked her bottle of whisky right back up. Bruce had probably smoked the most out of all of them.

“Yup. Just trying not to fall asleep.”

“Well wake up. Thor, kick him or something, we need him to win.”

Thor didn’t end up kicking him, but they managed to help him into a proper sitting position. It took almost four of them, though, since they were all in various stages of being intoxicated.

When they got him all settled, Carol, who had been displaced by all the action, decided to be bold and walked over to Val.

“Got room?” She asked, standing in front of the armchair the other girl was sitting in.

All Val could do was stare up at her, trying to decide if her intoxicated brain heard that right. Because if it did, she was probably going to short-circuit. “What?”

“Can I sit with you?”

This time, she _definitely_ didn’t mishear her. Val felt her mouth go dry and actual butterflies in her stomach like some cutesy love interest in a YA novel.

 _Play it cool, play it cool._ Val decided to give Carol a cocky grin and spread her legs so that they took up the whole arm chair before patting on of her thighs. “Have a seat.”

Carol ended up sitting sideways on the chair with her feet hanging off of the arm rest, but fully seated in Val’s lap.

Maybe Carol coming to game night was a good idea after all.

Play continued as normal. It was getting late, however, and if they kept the game going for too much longer, the only person who would have been sober enough to actually play would have been Thor.

“Alright,” Thor looked at the score card. “Team Bitchez With a Z currently has 9 points and Team All Star by Smashmouth has 10.”

“Fuck yeah,” Val slurred.

“One more round,” Loki demanded. “If we guess it correctly, we go into sudden death. If we don’t, then I suppose you guys win.”

Val and Carol exchanged knowing smirks before also turning to Bruce who didn’t respond or move, really. “Alright, deal. Except you know whose turn it is?”

Loki’s mouth dropped slightly in despair. “Oh no.”

“Jeff, why don’t you go ahead and roll,” Carol said.

Thor had already put his head in his hands, accepting their defeat.

“Well, it looks like I, uh, oh! I got ‘difficult’. Ooo sounds hard, yes?” He looked around the room with a genuine smile, looking for anyone to join his carefree mood.

He stood up and read his card. “Okay, I’m ready. Start the time.”

But before they could, Loki shouted, “Wait!” and hauled herself up into a sitting position. “You didn’t get difficult. You got ‘action.’”

“Oh! Did I, now? Well, that’s a lot easier.”

“Bullshit,” came a voice from a person everyone thought was down for the count. Bruce, still unmoving, mumbled, “I saw her. She cheated. She tried her dumbass sleight of hand dice bullshit.”

Everyone in the room turned and glared at Loki. “What? No I didn’t,” she tried to say in defense of herself, but it was weak and everyone could see right through it.

“You know what,” Val said. “I don’t fucking care. Just do the first word on the card and let’s get this game over with.”

Jeff took a moment to look at the word and gave a little laugh. “Oh, this one is easy. Don’t worry, you guys.”

“Too late,” Thor muttered.

Jeff began drawing, and much to the amusement of everyone in the room, it was completely incomprehensible.

“Is it a building?”

“A skyscraper?”

“Why are there music notes?”

“Jeff, come on, man. Give us _something_.”

“A singing hospital?”

“You can’t just keep drawing music notes. That’s not going to make us guess any faster.”

The timer Carol had been keeping on her phone dinged. “Time’s up.”

Thor and Loki groaned. “Would your team like to have a guess?”

“I got… absolutely nothing,” Val said, shaking her head.

“Is it a hotel?” Carol guessed.

Jeff gave a frustrated sigh. “It’s… it’s California.”

There was a moment of such dead silence that the buzz of the refrigerator from the next room over was almost deafening.

And in the next moment, everyone, except for Loki, of course, was on the floor in tears.

“Are you- are you fucking kidding me? _How?”_ Val asked through her gasping breaths.

“Well, I was _trying_ to get you to guess the song,” Jeff said, crossing his arms.

“Oh my god,” Loki rubbed her temples. “Jeff, you’re an idiot.”

After quite a long time, everyone was able to calm down enough that they declared Team All Star by Smashmouth the winners, which Val celebrated by drinking more before passing the bottle to Carol so she could also have a swig.

Loki eventually took Jeff’s hand and dragged him back to her room as Thor started to pick up the board game. He was the only one left with enough functioning brain cells to actually do so.

“Guys…” unexpectedly came Bruce’s stoned, sleepy voice. “We could all save so much time if we put the peanut butter on toast _before_ we toast it.”

Thor paused in his cleaning up. “Bruce, you are so stoned. What time would you be saving? You have to put the peanut butter on either way.”

“Yes, but, this way, you don’t have to do it after.” Bruce seemed pretty adamant on defending his claim.

Thor just continued to give him a goofy smile, a little too fond of the other man. “You’ll only break the toaster.”

They continued to argue for a few more minutes before Thor put an end to it with a dismissive wave and grabbed a blanket from off the floor and put it on Bruce as he finally drifted off to sleep.

“Thooooor,” Val said, like a child who wants something. “Can you put on a movie? I don’t- I don’t want to hear whatever Loki is doing.”

“Good idea.” Thor went over to their movie shelf and picked one out without even asking, knowing everyone was too gone to complain about his choice. “I feel like I’m taking care of children.”

“Your fault for not getting as high as the rest of us.” Val subconsciously picked up her hand and began to slowly stroke it up and down Carol’s spine. She had decided to snuggle up with Val again after Jeff’s last failed drawing attempt and, like Bruce, had been struggling to stay awake for the past 10 minutes.

Thor just shrugged and hit play on the movie. “I had a promise to keep to a friend.”

As much as Val like to think she was some kind of hardass, Thor always managed to break right through that. He was the best friend Val had ever had and her drunk mind wanted to remind him of that fact. “Hey, thank you. You’re a good friend. Like a really good friend. I love you, but not like that, you know? Like, I love you as a friend. A good friend,” she rambled.

“Love you too, kiddo.” He walked over and ruffled her hair before sitting on the couch Bruce was currently passed out on, lifting his legs and placing them in his lap.

 _Yeah,_ Val thought as she, too, slowly succumbed to sleep. _Carol coming to game night was a good idea._


	3. Not Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Although,” Carol said after thinking about it. “You really were right about Jeff being weird.”
> 
> “Always believe me, princess. I know what I’m talking about.” Val rested her face on her fist that was propped up onto the bar by her elbow. Unfortunately, in her state of intoxication, she did not even consider the fact that it was her left arm and that she was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, exposing her forearm.
> 
> Carol noticed it, however. “What’s your tattoo?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a bit shorter and quite the tonal shift from the last chapter so, just be prepared and heed the tags. It gets a lighter by the end of the chapter, I promise

_…These foreboders of war rode to the battlefield on horses, wearing helmets and shields. Some Valkyries had the power to cause the death of the warriors they did not favor; others, especially heroine Valkyries, guarded the lives and ships of those dear to them…_

Val read the entry on Valkyries for the third time in two hours. Tuesdays were always extremely slow. Unfortunately, the quiet only made her thoughts louder.

She absentmindedly rubbed at her left forearm as she began to create a fantasy in her head about having the power to choose who lived and who died. If only…

Life would have been so much different. She wouldn’t have been standing there in that museum in a stiff uniform. She wouldn’t have been living with Thor, Loki, and Bruce. She wouldn’t have been considering dipping into her food money just so she could get drunk again.

But the Valkyrie didn’t exist, magic didn’t exist, and Val was aggravatingly, powerlessly human.

-

When her shift was over, the first thing she did was pull out her phone and check her bank account balance.

With a shrug, she determined that she could spare the money to go to Galaxy’s Edge that evening. Thor wasn’t working that night and she didn’t even know if Carol would be either, but Val was craving a sense of familiarity.

She just needed to get out of her head more than anything.

-

Val was laying her head on the bar, the side of it tucked into the crook of her elbow as she lazily drew a smiley face in the condensation on her glass. She was a couple of drinks in and was beginning to feel warm. It was a start, but it was nowhere near where she wanted to be.

So far, her plan of getting out of her own head was not going quite as planned.

There was hardly anyone else at the bar because, unlike Val, most people did not make a habit of drinking on a Tuesday. She was pleased, however, because it only meant that there were less people to create noise.

Sitting up again, she downed what was left in her glass with practiced ease and asked the bartender for another one.

The bartender wasn’t Carol, much to Val’s chagrin. Though, when Val thought about it, maybe it was a good thing Carol didn’t see her in one of her depressive moods.

She was almost done with the drink she currently had when she heard the bartender swapping shifts with another person. She didn’t know who it was because she was too busy looking at the swirls in the wood that made up the bar’s surface, but she didn’t care either.

That is, she didn’t care until she heard a very familiar voice.

“Val?”

Her head snapped up at the sound of her name which caused a few black spots to appear in her vision for a moment but they cleared in a matter of seconds. When she saw the familiar, beautiful blonde, she smiled. “Hey, Carol.”

“What are you doing here?” Carol’s brow was drawn together in obvious concern at Val’s previous spaced-out state.

Val looked around at the other patrons. “The same as them, probably.”

“Are you… okay?” She sounded unsure, like she was assessing whether or not they were close enough yet to ask those kinds of questions.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry, princess.” She wasn’t really, but only she needed to know that.

Carol didn’t look like she believed her, but she didn’t want to say anything either. Luckily for Val, she decided not to pursue it. “Well, at least since you’re here, it’ll be nice to have someone to talk to. These shifts can get a little boring.”

“I know how that is,” Val muttered, more to herself than to Carol. “Can you get me another double whisky coke?” When Carol turned around to start preparing the drink, she had the thought to add, “And if you need my last name for the tab, let me know.”

“Ha, ha,” Carol said dryly, but there was a fond smile on her face.

Val really did like Carol, and if she was in any other state of mind, she would have flirted more overtly with her, but not that night.

“Glad to know game night didn’t completely scare you off.”

“Scare me off? That was some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”

Val was relieved at that. The morning after they had woken up from their position on the arm chair, there was a lot of awkward shuffling and stretching of sore muscles before Carol said her goodbyes.

“Although,” Carol said after thinking about it. “You really were right about Jeff being weird.”

“Always believe me, princess. I know what I’m talking about.” She rested her face on her fist that was propped up onto the bar by her elbow. Unfortunately, in her state of intoxication, she did not even consider the fact that it was her left arm and that she was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, exposing her forearm.

Carol noticed it, however. “What’s your tattoo?”

Val gave her a confused look before she realized what she was talking about. She took her head off of her fist and turned her arm around to show off the tattoo. It almost looked like a bird: a winged wand with something akin to an eye sitting on top and three lines across the bottom, all done in brown ink. “This is a tattoo my sister and I got together. She designed it. I think it’s based off of our family crest.”

After setting a drink down for another patron, Carol gingerly took Val’s arm into her hands to get a better look at it. “It’s gorgeous!” She looked back up at Val, letting go of her arm. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

Val took another drink. “I don’t. Not anymore, at least.”

“Oh,” Carol’s voice was soft, like she regretted asking but couldn’t take it back now. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she waved a dismissive hand. “It happened a while ago. She was, um… She was hit by a drunk driver.” She cursed the alcohol that loosened her tongue. There was no reason for her to say that but now she had and there was no going back. _Do not get emotional! Especially not in front of Carol!_ She bit her tongue and took quiet, deep breaths to calm herself. So much for drowning that thought out with alcohol. She was _not_ the same as the person who took her sister’s life. At least, that’s what she kept telling herself. She would rather die than even think about getting behind the wheel of a car after drinking. It was one of the reasons she still refused to get her license: she always had a reason to never be driving, alcohol or no.

“Oh man. That’s… yeah that’s awful. Were you two close?”

_Please stop talking about it,_ she wanted to say, but couldn’t bring herself to do so. “Yeah, she was my best friend.” Her words were getting thicker with more than just the alcohol. “But, I’ve got Thor now, so it isn’t too bad.” She rubbed at her eye to subtly wipe away the moisture that had collected and saw her hands were shaking. _Dammit. Not now._ “Hey, can I get another drink?”

Carol just nodded. “Any requests or do you want a surprise this time?”

“Surprise me.” Val was more than relieved to talk about literally anything else.

A couple minutes later, after Carol took her time carefully choosing the alcohol and the other ingredients, a drink was placed in front of Val that was slightly pink with the promise of sweet fruit flavors.

“What is this?” She asked.

“Just try it,” Carol insisted with an inclination of her head. “Oh, and don’t worry about the price. I got this one for you.”

Val gave her a grateful smile. “Thank you.” She took a sip and hummed in delight. “This is delicious.”

“I knew you’d like it. You always get the simple stuff. I thought I would treat you this time.”

The gesture made Val’s heart flutter. Carol was leaning on her elbows in front of Val and if she moved in just a little bit closer, they could almost…

Val sat back a little further and continued to drink her surprise drink, destroying any formations of ‘what if’s’ in either of their minds.

_Not now._

-

Another hour later, Val was able to close out her tab and say her goodbyes before managing to catch the last bus home. She must have drunk more than she thought because the world kept swimming when she looked around too fast and didn’t go away when she blinked, no matter how many times she tried.

It took almost all of her remaining willpower to not fall asleep on the bus. She wanted to so badly. Every part of her was trying to shut down but she had to make it or she would have had to take an uber from wherever the last bus stop was. _Come on, Val._ _Not now._

By some miracle, she made it. It took her a few tries to get the key in the lock and she dropped her keyring twice before she was finally granted entrance.

Stumbling down to her room and throwing herself down on her bed, still fully clothed, was the last challenge she had to endure before giving in to her alcohol-induced coma, falling asleep before she even laid her head down.

What she did not notice was Thor, still awake and studying for a midterm he had the next day. He saw her walk in and sighed to himself. Putting his textbook aside, he stood up and walked into the kitchen where he grabbed a glass, filled it with water, and took the bottle of pain killers. He knew he couldn’t wake her when she was like this so he didn’t bother with tiptoeing around Val’s room. He did have to dodge a few haphazardly thrown articles of clothing, but when he made it to Val’s bedside, he placed the water and painkillers on her nightstand and hoped she would see them in the morning.

He managed to get a blanket out from underneath her and draped it over where she was sprawled out. He also was able to find where she had tossed her phone and plugged it in for her, knowing she would have been frustrated if she woke up to a dead phone.

His last thought before closing her door and returning to studying was how much he wished he could he could help his friend more.

-

Several days later found Val lounging in her armchair as she and Thor watched the Bachelorette, a bottle of wine being shared between the two. Thor had insisted that was the only alcohol she was allowed to have, which she reluctantly agreed to. No matter how easily she could see through his scheme, disappointing Thor was a fate worse than death.

Bruce was at some sort of conference Val didn’t care about and Loki was… doing whatever it was Loki did, so it was just her and Thor that evening which was fine because Loki got way too into the show and often shushed Val’s attempts at commentary.

“She better not give her rose to him. He’s not even hot!” Val angrily gestured toward the TV. “What does he even think he’s going to do with that guitar?”

“With any luck, strangle Kyle with it. What a fucking tool.” Thor sipped on his wine while Val laughed at his comment.

“What do you think of Brad?” She asked as she shifted her position on the chair so her legs were dangling over the armrest.

“Not my type, but I can see why she likes him.”

Val turned to him and waggled her eyebrows. “And let me guess. Your type is shorter, dark-haired nerds with glasses?”

Thor almost choked on his sip of wine at the suggestion. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“Come on, Thor. You’re not that subtle.” She returned to a normal sitting position so she could easily talk to him. It was a commercial break so she wasn’t scared of missing any of the drama. “You’re the one who’s always so unafraid when it comes to flirting. Why don’t you flirt with him? I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t be opposed to it.”

He set down his wine glass and ran a hand through his hair. “You think I haven’t tried that? The man is as oblivious as it gets. One time, I knew he was studying in the kitchen so I took a shower and purposefully walked next to him with a towel wrapped around my waist to get a glass of water just to see if he would stare at least a little bit.”

“And?”

“He didn’t even look up from his laptop. So I asked him whose turn it was to do the dishes so he would at least look up. And he didn’t.”

Val started snickering. “You two are both hopeless.”

“Now wait a minute. That’s not fair,” Thor pointed an accusatory finger at her. _“I’m_ trying. _He’s_ the one who is, somehow, immune to my charms.”

She wanted to laugh so hard. Thor had no idea just how wrong his claim was.

“And besides,” he continued. “You don’t have any room to talk. You have been flirting with Carol for a week and you have made no plans to meet up with her. I know this because you would have told me and if you didn’t, she would have.”

_Damn._ Thor had her there. “Look, it’s different with me and Carol. We haven’t had a crush on each other for as long as you’ve been holding out for Bruce.”

“I’ll get there eventually,” he defended.

But before either of them could continue, the show came back on and they were back to their commentary and their conversation ended, neither of them truly gaining the upper hand over who had their crush under more control.

Nope, they were just two hopeless disaster bisexuals.

When Val wasn’t looking, however, Thor was texting with Carol. Just because Bruce was taking his sweet time catching on to Thor’s flirting did not mean that Carol had to suffer the same fate. He may have dropped a couple of hints saying she should change her workout time for the coming Saturday. Of course it was the same time Val always went to the gym, but neither of them had to know that. Though, he figured Carol could probably guess. She wasn’t exactly dumb.

And indeed she had guessed. She agreed to Thor’s suggestion just as she walked into her usual hair salon, already thinking of a plan. _This could be fun._

**Author's Note:**

> Follow my [writing blog](https://savethebees-writing.tumblr.com) for updates and Captain Valkyrie ramblings!


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